The life I knew

Last week I published a blog about being thankful. The night the blog came out I came across an old Jackie Gleason/Crazy Guggenheim sketch. I doubt that many people today are familiar with Crazy Guggenheim (played by Frank Fontaine), and it's possible that some may even not be familiar with Jackie Gleason. Both were master comedians when I was growing up in the 1960s, and they were representatives of the many other entertainers of that period. I have to add that I am thankful that I grew up in a time when entertainers didn't feel the need to be vulgar in order to make people laugh. The Jackie Gleason Show, The Honeymooners (actually a 1950s show), The Red Skelton Hour and countless other television programs found audiences and entertained people without nudity or vulgarity.

There were few nights I missed the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Yes, there could be some blue humor from some of the guests, but no one was ever vulgar. If a four-letter word slipped out it was quickly bleeped by the network. I watched the Carson show because he was a master at what he did, and he had the best guests. Not only was the show funny; it was also often informational. The same thing is true of the Tonight Show when Jay Leno took over the first time. After he retired and then returned when the show began to bomb it wasn't the same. I felt Leno was telephoning his work. There was little entertainment value in the show when he returned, and I realized I was losing a lot of sleep hoping things would return to normal. I finally quit watching the show entirely as I found Jimmy Fallon quite boring.

I'm thankful to have grown up in a time when television programs were truly entertaining without being offensive. Young people growing up today don't know what it's like to watch a comedian who isn't vulgar. I realize in their private lives these individuals could be quite vulgar, but this never carried itself to the television set. They provided wholesome entertainment that the whole family could watch without anyone being offended or without the need to explain to the children what they just saw and/or heard.

My early childhood years were spent in the 1950s, but my teen years were in the 1960s. That was when entertainment began to stretch the boundaries. Comedy and music became a little bluer, Nudity became expected from the movie-going public. Pornography came from behind the counter and began to show up in the public "Adult" section of the bookstores and magazine shops. The language used in movies and by many entertainers became more vulgar. Parents had to review programs on the TV before allowing the family to watch. In the 2020s it has done nothing but get worse.

I'll end this post by just saying I'm thankful for growing up when I did. I'm thankful for cutting my comedy teeth on Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Dick van Dike, and others of that era. I'm thankful for a childhood of watching the old westerns that had a moral story behind the action. I'm thankful for learning to be entertained without being embarrassed. 

Staying true to our mission

It is no secret that many view the church today as irrelevant to life in the twenty-first century. Fewer people attend worship services. The number of people who state they have no religious affiliation continues to grow. The values and morals traditionally taught by the church are dismissed by a large percentage of our population, including many within the church. Our nation is spiraling downward in many respects, and it does not appear the church has any answers. If we try to give biblical answers to those problems the response is often to shout us down.

Why has the church lost its ability to influence society? Why do so many see us as irrelevant? No doubt, there are many reasons. One is that, for many people, their view of the church and its teachings are based on what they see on television. If the only thing I knew about the church and the teachings of Jesus was what I saw on TV I probably wouldn't believe any of it either. The false teachings heard on many of these shows (I can't call them worship services) and the flamboyant lifestyles enjoyed by the ministers would quickly turn me off. Somehow I could not make the connection between what is seen and taught there and the life Jesus lived and taught.

Another reason might be that the church has tried so hard to be relevant that we became irrelevant in the process. Somehow we equated relevance with showmanship. We thought if we brought in smoke machines, rock music, huge video screens, and wore jeans with holes in them we would connect with the younger crowd. Rather than providing a worship service we wanted to be entertaining.

In Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians the Christian Jim takes Casper, an atheist, to visit some of the largest and best known churches in America. They talk with some of the leaders and attend their worship services. After attending the church they debrief the experience. Nothing Casper experiences convinces him the Christian message is true. He is not impressed with the services and most of the messages. They all come up short of what he thought they should be if people truly believed the message of Christianity.

Perhaps the reason many view the church as irrelevant is that we have abandoned our mission. Before Christ ascended into heaven He told us that we were to evangelize the world, leading people to faith in Christ and helping them grow as disciples. Rather than doing that we have instead attacked those with whom we disagree,  built great monuments to ourselves in which to "worship God," pursued political alliances to advance our agenda, and compromised the Gospel so as not to alienate people.

As I travel the countryside I see many small buildings boarded up that once housed churches. They closed as people sought something more than what these small churches could offer. Whenever I see these buildings I often think of the lives changed in those simple churches where the Gospel was proclaimed and people experienced true community. No comforts. No frills. Often, just a piano in the corner and a preacher behind a simple, wooden pulpit proclaiming the message of hope found in the Gospels. And people responded turning their lives over to Jesus Christ.

If the church wants to become relevant once again it must return to the mission God has given it. We don't need to be entertained; we need to worship. We don't need the Gospel changed to not alienate people; we need it preached without compromise so that people's lives can be changed. We don't need wealth, prestige, and political power to do the work God has given us; we need the power of the Holy Spirit permeating our lives and our churches. If we have that we won't need to worry about being relevant.

We don't need more entertainment

I recently saw a picture on my Facebook page that had the caption "Ditch the man cave and bring back the study." I don't have a man cave, but I do have a study so that post really spoke to me.

Personally, I have nothing against man caves. The only problem I see is that they are primarily about entertainment. I also have nothing against entertainment except I think we spend too much time pursuing entertainment and too little time thinking and studying. I also think this is why our nation and many of our churches are in the trouble we are in.

For several decades now we've seen this nation continue to go down morally, ethically, financially, relationally, and just about any other way you can think. As we've taken this downward plunge it seems we've also seen an upswing in entertainment. We now have 24/7 television programming, professional sports seasons that seem to last longer and longer, computer games that can quickly become addictive for many people, social media, and other sources of entertainment that seem to keep us from thinking about what's really important to the future of our nation and our families.

Man caves are just the latest symptom of this "entertain me" society with its media areas, various gaming systems, wet bars, and whatever else some wants. Rather than spending time with good books and thinking about important things, we numb ourselves with our toys and entertainment.

Pastors are not immune from this either. As a judicatory leader for 14 years I had the opportunity to be with many pastors in their studies and was often shocked at the lack of good resources they had available. Few lacked the latest in computers and other electronics, but many did lack serious books and other resources they would need for effective ministry. Some may question if they had these resources on their computer. Certainly, there are some excellent resources available for computers, but many of these pastors were unaware of them or didn't invest in them. I know because I asked.

If we are serious about wanting to turn this nation (and our churches) around it may be time to get rid of our toys and begin to read and do some serious thinking about what's really important. Maybe if we begin to do that we'll quit drinking the Kool-Aid our politicians are trying to give us and begin to demand the quality of leadership our nation deserves. If we continue our current pursuit of entertainment then we are probably already receiving the quality of leadership we deserve.